SUPERVISING Provincial Police Commander (PPC), Isabel Province Inspector Oswald Iru urges his officers to consider the Media Awareness Training currently underway at the Buala Police Station as part of their capacity development under the Capability Plan of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF).
10 officers including the PPC and Heads of Units at the Buala Police Station are attending the training which is being held from March 19-23, 2018. One female officer is among the participants.
“Media is a powerful medium which police can utilise to convey its messages to prevent crime and also impress on communities that policing is not a task for police officers only but it is something for the whole community. It’s only when communities work together with police that our villages and towns can be free of crime,” says PPC Iru.
“There is a lot of cooperation between police and the communities in Isabel Province but not a lot of these stories are being told for the rest of the country to hear and may be do likewise.
“I hope that with this media training and a better understanding of how we can use the media, more of these stories about what the police is doing in Isabel Province can be disseminated to the rest of the country.”
During the Media Awareness Training participants will be briefed on the RSIPF Commissioner’s Order on Media, the RSIPF Media Strategy, expectations of the Media, how to draft a media release, interview techniques, photography, dealing with media enquiries and developing relations with the media.
The Media Awareness Training is being coordinated by Solomon Islands Police Development Programme (SIPDP) as part of the strengthening of the capability of the RSIPF Media Unit to market the organisation in order to increase the confidence of communities in the Force.
The Training, which started at the Gizo Police Station in Western Province early in February, has so far been held at the Auki and Kirakira Police Stations.
It is expected to be held at all the other provincial centres including Honiara City by mid-May this year.
–POLICE MEDIA
